Easter trip 2018

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Topic: Easter trip 2018 (Read 2435 times)

As was said in my pre trip report -Princess and Pirates, Party of 11- 6 adults aged 34-61, 5 children aged 15-7 heading back to the Hotel Cheyenne, first time since the refurb, for 4 nights, 5 days.

Sunday 8th April 201810am set off on our road trip down south to Folkestone. Had lunch at Peterbrough Services and arrived at the Premier Inn, folkestone around 5pm. Rooms were okay, standard rooms but could have done with a lick of paint and had a slight smell of damp, don't know if it was actually the room or the bedding. We had a meal in the onsite restaurant and it was lovely (I was dreading it because of my mouth). It was then early to bed as we had an early rise.

Monday 9th April 2018A 4:30am alarm and I was woken with a cry of " It's Disney time!" from my youngest, she is 11 years old i might add but like her mammy she is a Disney nut We set off at 5am and the tunnel was a 7 min drive away meaning we got the earlier train- a nice start I thought. So glad we got this train because it took us an extra hour of travelling due to roadworks and accidents which we found out later had resulted in longer tailbacks if we had caught our original train.

We arrived at the Cheyenne and the carpark was busy! We entered reception and it was.. empty! Check in took a while because the Cast member was so thorough, explaining everything and going above and beyond what she needed to. She managed to get us 3 rooms close to each other at 11:45am and all ready to go in- a big shout out to Nieves! Fab job!We went to our rooms in Butch Cassidy and the suspense was killing me- how would I feel abut the new rooms? would it be the Cheyenne I know and love? I entered the room and my first thought- "oh! it's smaller." It's not, just felt that way because of the new layout. The double bed is very close to the window and the bedside table is squished in between that and the trundle. The heating system worked well, I don't see the issue some visitors have with it but then again systems do fail. My overall opinion- We do like the rooms but miss the bunkbeds. the seat is an added bonus.After unpacking we headed towards the parks, stopping for lunch in the Sportsbar ( my mam didn't join us for this due to feeling unwell whilst unpacking so she stayed in the room). It was the first time here and the food was nice. We then made our way to the Studios. It was quite busy but not heaving (I was dreading it with the tweets I had seen that weekend). Our group split into 2 here, one group heading to RC racer, the other Slinky for a 5 minute wait. By the time we got off Slinky it was bouncing down. My father and myself headed for somewhere sheltered whilst the others went on Ratatouille with it only being a 40 minute wait. I was glad of the wifi in this park due to my dad falling asleep in his wheelchair during the wait. The kids went on Cars after this but then the heavens opened so we watched the Incredibles on our way out and then made our way to the village for a quick shop then back to the hotel for a rest, freshen up and evening meal in the Chuck Wagon.There is a new system and layout in the restaurant. Your are shown to your seats (never did this when we have eaten here before), we were seated in a wagon, this was rather cool . Queues for food, causing a wait but more to do with some people being so slow and will not move on to another part until the person in front is finished despite not wanting anything from that particular spot. The food was okay, desserts very nice. My niece was however upset because she has a peanut allergy and they couldn't tell her if the foods she wanted had peanuts in it or not! err where is the allergy book?After our meal we had a drink in the bar, where clumsy annie (my eldest) didn't fail to make an appearance. We just couldn't stop laughing, bar staff joining in but then some miserable people on a table next to us complaining about it," it was an embarrassment" Barman muttered about them taking some happy pills which made me laugh even more. After our drink we headed back to our room for an early night.

Tuesday 10th April 2018People have been complaining about the rooms for sleeping and after experiencing our first night I agree the air con does make a noise despite turning the fan and unit off but it didn't disturb my sleep once I had dropped off. The mattress was firm but it was how i like it, my issue was with the pillows, bit firm for my liking but i was shattered and still slept well.We had a late breakfast this morning and was surprised that the Cheyenne offered a cooked breakfast- lovely! It was cooked better than the one we had in the Sequoia at New Year. I could actually eat this one even with a sore mouth.

We headed into the main park this morning, had to queue for City hall to get my dad's pass so missed the Pirate's parade, my youngest said it was good and got a video of it. We went on Molly Brown, lovely in the sunshine and a nice calm way to start the day. After our little boat trip we headed towards Adventure land, BTM was too long a queue. We had pictures taking with Mr Smee, his interaction was great. Whilst we were in the queue for this, a family walked up to us, took hold of one of my nieces, you can picture what we were like, took hold of another British girl behind us, took a picture with them and said "beautiful" and walked off. Totally flabbergasted! We then headed to Toad Hall for a spot of lunch (whinging kids the main reason) and plus we have not eaten here for ages. Now getting your meal then finding a seat is good on paper but not in reality and not if you are a large group (10) like us! We had 2 tables and a Spanish mother and child turned up and just sat themselves on the table where the kids were sitting, moved their things off the table and then refused to move when we came out and spoke to them. I was fuming! We had to sit on the wall to eat our food whilst the 2 of them sat there. Rant coming, I'm sick of a particular nationality thinking they can just move your stuff and more importantly your children when they feel like it! it happened at breakfast when our tables had 'reserved' on it and my daughter had left her hoody and phone on the table whilst she went for her breakfast. I was sat on the next table when a a woman being shown to a table decided she wanted to sit where we were and not where she was put (family of 4 on the large bench tables). I explained nicely that it was taken but she just shook her head and grabbed my daughters hoody and phone and went to drop it on the floor, i admit i was a little tired so i shouted at her to leave it alone (not like me) and to go away. By this time, the CM had returned and apologised to me and told her no and took her away. She was not happy. Well rant over, sorry. Back to the day.After lunch we headed over to IASW, no queue and then a pop over to POTC. I don't like the swapping but was sick of my nieces and nephews whinging (not used to it despite have 2 children myself). We then headed back to Fantasy land (grrr) for a princess ice cream. Queuing for 20 minutes to be told they don't have any! We were 6th in the queue as well. My hubby told them it wasn't acceptable and a sign should be put up. So what did they do? a CM kept leaning out of the window every couple of minutes shouting "sold out"! unbelievable. We watched the parade then headed to Discoveryland for Autotopia and Buzz. At 6:30pm we had a reservation at Plaza Gardens. The staff were much friendlier compared to our New Year visit, food ok but have had better. My sister in law and her family were really impressed but it was their first time eating here.Once finished we found a spot for Illuminations whilst some of the group did a few rides. Once again you had ignorant people coming at the last minute squishing in and then putting their children on their shoulders. They were asked by a number of guests to move but ignored them and then tried to squeeze their third child into the space near us so they could stand on the fence- I don't mean to be horrible to children but I don't think so!!! I had to watch the entire show through my mobile phone, arm stretched above my head to capture it because i couldn't see because of them! It was an okay show but i won't rush back to see it again, Dreams far better in my opinion. The fireworks at the end were good. After the fireworks we returned to the hotel and went straight to bed. we were shattered!

Wednesday 11th April 2018Early rise this morning, legs and feet so sore haha and I felt drained. Family said finding tables for 10 was an issue this morning (i didn't go for breakfast), could't even get tables close to each other, Couples sitting on bench tables. We headed to the studios today, had reservation at Restaurant des stars. It was hot today! The kids hit The Parachutes, then slinky then the more adrenaline junkies did TOT and Aerosmith. Then it was lunchtime. We had never eaten in this restaurant before and now we wonder why. we loved it. Service fab. I asked about allergies and the manager came out and went through the book and every item they had that day telling us what my niece could and couldn't have. I immediately tweeted cast compliment about this. We are definitely returning to eat here. On the afternoon we headed to Mickey and the Magician, queued past show time to be then told there would be no show, Gutted wasn't the word. Some very angry people especially because it was so hot and they only made announcements in French. We pottered around the Studios a bit longer then headed to the village to do some shopping. We had our evening meal at the Sportsbar, service was slow, yes it was busy but some bigwigs seemed to be in and the staff were catering to their needs. Now i don't wish to offend smokers out there but it was terrible whilst we were waiting. I know it's technically outside but since inside is small then families have no choice but to eat outside and it wasn't very nice. So in a way i don't feel too bad for not owning up to paying for our first rounds of drinks - the bill didn't have it on, it was still well over 100 euros for our meal and second lot of drinks. I felt really guilty at first but not when i stunk of smoke haha not used to that now with the rules in the UK. On our way back we stopped in the New York for a quick drink then back to hotel for bed.

Thursday 12th April 2018I felt totally drained this morning and had to drag myself out of bed. We had breakfast then headed back into the main park. It was cooler and miserable today so we all had our coats at the ready. We watched the Pirates and Princess show in the central hub, it was great, not too busy so i got to go round and see both, getting some up close pictures. The song is sooooo catchy, it sticks in your head. We headed into Adventureland and tried Hakuna Matata for the first time, now being 11 of us and having demanding children it was starting to show if you know what i mean and lets just say the meal was not as enjoyable as it could have been. I would try it again but the majority of the group wouldn't. We wandered around the park, POTC, IASW again then the heavens opened and I mean they opened! One good thing was Autotopia was quiet so we went on and spent the time giggling, screaming, due to the rain dripping in places and panicking because my youngest was driving. We were wet through but had a great time. After this we went for a drink and to dry off and then made our way to the Hotel New York for our reservation at the Parkside diner. Again we had a lovely meal in here, not as much variety as there was over the New year period but still plentiful. Again we informed them of my niece's peanut allergy and they showed us what she could have and even offered us those allergen free meals (we refused these) it was great service. Afterwards we had a drink in the bar, a browse in the shop then a slow walk back to the Cheyenne to begin the horrible task of packing it goes so quick.

Friday 13th April 2018We had our final breakfast and checked out we left the cars in the hotel carpark and made our way back to the main park and had a last few goes on rides we all loved and headed for lunch at the Cowboy cookout - closed!! a tiny sign informed people of this but you had to be close to the doors to see it. We then headed over to the Lucky nugget, i've not eaten here since it was a character buffet which costed 19,99! that's how long ago it was (my youngest was 9 months old ). We ordered our meals and were given tables right by the stage. The show was really good and you could taste the difference in the food compared to normal counter service. We will definitely be eating here again. After the meal we headed back along Main Street picking up snacks for the journey back and left DLP at 4pm, needing no jump start from the hotel like our last trip. The trip back to the tunnel was tiring due to the sheer volume of traffic but we arrived in plenty of time to get our train at 8:40pm. We arrived in Folkestone and headed to the Premier inn at Ashford central, arriving at 8:50pm to be told there were no tables left in the pub for a meal despite booking. Not happy bunnies. We had to go for Mcdonalds so waking past the pub to get there we noticed the amount of empty tables there was in there. It was an experience to get to Mcdonalds to say the least. Have you tried running over a quieter motorway with your big mac We prebooked our breakfast for 10am the next morning and went to bed after eating our food. Tired and depressed, the magic was over

Saturday 14th April 2018We woke up shattered about 9am and headed over to the pub for breakfast. Once in they said they had no booking for us- now either the receptionist was not good at her job or this pub certainly didn't want 11 peoples custom and once seated we came up with the custom theory, majority of the staff were so lazy and manager rude and disappeared. One member of staff was great, he couldn't do enough for you. At the end of breakfast my brother dropped it in that he is a manager of a rival chain and suddenly staff appeared and did look concerned but hey it shouldn't take that to get service. We checked out of the hotel and headed back up north, stopping again at Peterbrough for a quick break (there was a major crash closing the road just north of Peterbrough so we had a long detour adding time onto our journey) and arrived home about 4pm, tired and aching.

It was a good trip, weather on the whole lovely (it couldn't get any worse than New year). I found out that i still had infection in my chest which is why i had been so drained during the trip. I was hospitalised 3 days after returning from DLP at New Year due to a chest infection and this was it still in my body. We were so depressed when we returned because this would be our last trip until 2020 but had those announcements to look forward to. However..... we have now booked up for Halloween this year because the deals for the Hotel New York could not be passed up . I have waited 26 years to stay here, I finally got my way!!!! Then it will be 2020 before we return because we have WDW to look forward to in 2019! Our first ever visit but just the 4 of us, staying offisite with one night in the Little Mermaid room.. I don't know who is more excited me or the kids!

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